Homemade face masks will not protect you the way that a commercial face mask will. But they do help.
A CDC discussion of homemade face masks as they pertain to novel viri in general says,
Although insufficient for the workplace, this mask offered substantial protection from the challenge aerosol and showed good fit with minimal leakage … We showed that a hand-fashioned mask can provide a good fit and a measurable level of protection from a challenge aerosol.
I want to emphasize that these home made masks do not replace commercial masks that are designed to protect wearers from infectious diseases. A homemade mask will not provide anything like complete protection from the Coronavirus. However, it does provide a measure of protection from aerosol-borne infection.
The instructions for making face masks that I’ve seen have come from people who aren’t sewists. These masks are super simple to make for anyone who either quilts or makes their own clothes. Compared to making a shirt or a pair of jeans, stitching up one of these things is ez pz.
Here are how-to-make-a-mask tutorials from people who actually sew.
If you quilt and use an Acuquilt, go here for an Acuquilt pattern.
From home sewist’s YouTube blog:
From the Missouri Star Quilt Company:
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